HELP with stringers

[18footer]

I have spent hours on this board trying to find someone who has had this situation but to no luck please help.<br /> I'm ready to start putting in the new stringers but the problem is, the old stringers were made of fiberglass cloth formed into stringers with what looks like 1 inch x 1 inch wood undernieth that was not attached to the hull.(it was really rotted) I have cut all the old fiberglass out down to a nice bare hull. The hull has high a low spots from where the old cloth was attached to the hull but it is smooth. How should i make the new stringers? and out of what? The stringers were only 4 inchs high, and if i use 2x4 can i use epoxy resin to fill in gaps undernieth? Thanks for any help

 

[JasonJ]

Re: HELP with stringers

If you have everything ground down nice and smooth, you can use anything within reason. I am using 3/4 ply for my stringers, and they are 3 inches, 7 inches, and ten inches. I am using 3/4 because the original wood was 3/4. You can use 1 inch ply if you want. Good luck...

 

[18footer]

Re: HELP with stringers

The hull is smooth but there are some high and low spots where the old fiberglass was attached to the hull. When I put the stringers in can I use epoxy resin to fill in the low spots?

 

[brokeboater]

Re: HELP with stringers

i don't know how much gap you are talking about, but when i rebuilt the stringers in mine i bedded them in a bonding putty. about the same idea as what you are talking about but less expensive for just a filler than using thickened epoxy. by the time i fitted each stringer there were only very small gaps though.<br />so...to answer your question I would say yes, use a filler of some kind.<br />however......when i removed the old stringers, the factory had just placed the stringer in the bottom and glassed it up.

 

[crab bait]

Re: HELP with stringers

BROKE BOAT is steerin' you stra8..<br /><br />if you can't get the hull 'even'..for stringers,, SCRIBE.. just lay your timber..take a divider,,( circle drawler ) an scribe..it follows the un- eveness & scibes a pencil line. take a jig saw a cut the irregular shape..<br /><br />fits like a handshoe.. <br /><br />but remember.. that mite not be the rite choice.. the tops of all the sringers must be level/an/rite also.. as per NOT a uneven floor..

 

[SCO]

Re: HELP with stringers

Neat method, to scribe. You could do that on an oversized piece of lumber, say a 2X6 and cut off the bottom first per scribe,place in boat, then determine where to cut the top. Ive heard it recommended to use treated by Dave Carnell( search for his site if youre curious).

 

[Solittle]

Re: HELP with stringers

Have you used a grinder or power sander to level the high spots?

 

[18footer]

Re: HELP with stringers

I have cut, ground and sanded everything as flat and smooth as any one can. But the previous owner had made an attempt to repair the floor an poured resin on the hull which is were I get my hight and low spots. The gap(s) I asking about are 1/4 inch or less. I just don't want to make any hard spots where the hull meets the stringers.

 

[SCO]

Re: HELP with stringers

Thats the first Ive heard of the scribe method, and it is one I will never forget. Do it that way. Crab knows what he is talking about. Again, place the board where it goes in the bottom of the boat. Take a simple compass, or a piece of wood with a hole in it for a pencil, and follow the bottom contour with the wood piece while marking on the board. You are tracing the bottom contour on the board. So simple and so good. then again you could build dams and fill w epoxy but that is a biatch and not as good a solution. Also again, if you have just a few voids or well distributed voids its not much of a problem. I didnt even concern myself with that issue.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: HELP with stringers

I am fortunate enough to have one of each size stringer that survived intact enough to use as a template. My plan is to cut them, glass them in, and after everything is cured, then make sure its all flat and even. If you do not make sure they are all flat and even on the tops, the floor could have a twist in it, which could try to throw the hull out of alignment.

 

[crab bait]

Re: HELP with stringers

glad you found scribing useful.. SCO.. makes me feel good sometimes wonder if i'm gettin' thru..you made me day..!!<br /><br />about the 'dams'... never do that.. always when there a gap of any size.. always add a filler .. to make a peanut butter putty <br />.. marine centers sell good fillers .. but in a pinch,, use sawdust,, flower,, powder,, corn starch.. but i don't reccomend any of 'em really.. but saw dust.. <br /><br />i save good mohogany sawdust .. it's like gold to me,, in a coffee can.. i even 'sift' it thru a kitchen strainer .. nice & fine.. <br /><br />but my favorite filler for stength is 'milled fiberglass' it's a fine powered fiberglass powder.. it's awlsom stuff...